


stargazing and blazing fire

by Musta_aurinko



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Falling In Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:35:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22051162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musta_aurinko/pseuds/Musta_aurinko
Summary: Hakuryuu, having cut ties with his family after years of abuse from his mother, begins his college life in a negative mood. On top of it all, he ends up in the same course with the boy who used to bully him in elementary school.
Relationships: Judal | Judar/Ren Hakuryuu, Morgiana/Alibaba Saluja
Comments: 27
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> updates on tuesdays and fridays

It had been around two months since Hakuryuu had broken his ties with his family. 

On the morning of his first day of college, Hakuryuu walked towards the campus. The cloudy and chilly weather seemed to reflect the state of his mind. At some point during the past year, Hakuryuu had started becoming closed off. It had worried his parents and siblings who wanted to help him, or so they claimed. Even thinking about it made Hakuryuu feel frustrated. 

The Ren family were powerful, rich and privileged. And hopelessly dysfunctional, although no-one but Hakuryuu would ever admit this. If the abuse his mother had inflicted on Hakuryuu since he was a child while everyone else insisted on refusing to believe it happened at all wasn’t bad enough, it was their selfish expectations for Hakuryuu’s life that finally caused Hakuryuu to cut himself from them entirely. After an argument where everyone else in his family refused to see Hakuryuu’s point of view at all, Hakuryuu had packed up his most important possessions and simply left. 

Hakuryuu’s “mundane” interests had never really been accepted in his family. He also wasn’t ambitious enough. The duty of a man in the Ren household was to reach for power and dominance, and to produce the next generation of Rens to do just the same. For most of his young life, Hakuryuu had tried his best to fit into this mold. Distantly, he could remember days of his childhood, when he had loved the company of his siblings and father, and had had a positive outlook on whatever the future might hold. They felt foreign to him now: his family didn’t even try to understand him, their “help” and “advice” completely useless. It didn’t feel like they actually wanted to help him; they wanted to forcibly turn Hakuryuu into a person who was easier for them to deal with. 

So here Hakuryuu was, at the start of his college life. The field he had chosen – business – hadn’t been a complete disappointment to his family, nor was it something that Hakuryuu hated. Still, the thought of venturing on this new path all alone was a bit intimidating. Not that Hakuryuu wasn’t used to doing everything on his own, but college was college. Hakuryuu’s mood darkened even more. 

“Hey look! If it isn’t- Hakuryuu!” 

Hakuryuu had reached the campus and was immediately greeted with familiar faces. The friends he had made in high school – Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana – had all enrolled to the same school. For the three of them, it was a conscious decision; they were nearly inseparable. Although Hakuryuu had, in a way, become a member of their group, sometimes he still felt like a third wheel. A fourth wheel? The fact that Hakuryuu was also there was merely a coincidence. 

“How are you on this fine morning? It’s exciting, isn’t it??” Alibaba was so hyped he was nearly shaking. Morgiana was calm and quiet, as always, but even she seemed to have a cheerful aura today. 

“Everything fine with the... ?” Aladdin asked, knowing what had occurred during the summer. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’m fine”, Hakuryuu said, flashing a small but reassuring smile. He didn’t feel comfortable revealing his true feelings to the only people he would consider his friends in the fear of chasing them away or burdening them with too much negativity. 

In addition to the compulsory courses he had to take in order to get his degree, the school also offered a wide variety of courses students could take if they were simply interested. Hakuryuu tried to fill his timetable with as many courses as possible. He just... hated the feeling of sitting in his apartment all alone for hours and hours and hours. He didn’t want to overwork himself, however, so he tried to pick courses that didn’t sound too hard or uninteresting. That is why he was now sitting in a class that’s walls were covered in posters about the constellations. What on earth did one even study in the “Basics of Astronomy”? Stargazing? Hakuryuu had no idea. 

Hakuryuu was one of the first in class, and he picked a free seat next to the wall. It wasn’t a big classroom, and there were two rows of longer tables where two students would sit next to each other. Hakuryuu was deep in thought as more people started slowly trickling in. He had received a text message earlier from his sister Hakuei, who was begging for him to come back and talk to them. But she didn’t understand. No, she _refused_ to understand. Not once had she taken Hakuryuu seriously when he had told her about the things their mother had done to him. “It’s not that bad”, “oh, don’t worry about it”, and “mother would never do something like that on purpose” were sentences that had become all too familiar to him over the years, all the way from his childhood. Of course Hakuei wouldn’t get it. Mother had never done anything bad to her. 

“Hah, never thought that I’d run into Crybaby Ren in here out of all places!” an amused voice pulled Hakuryuu back from his musings. A little laugh, and the other person slid into the chair next to Hakuryuu’s. “What’s smelling with you these days?” 

Hakuryuu recognized the voice immediately, and side-eyed the boy next to him. What he saw were a familiar long braid, a leather jacket, nails painted black, jewellery, tight black jeans, black boots with thick soles, and a pair of ridiculous red contact lenses on a smirking face. Hakuryuu turned his gaze to the opposite direction. 

“Hey, don’t ignore me! When did you become such a stick in the mud? That’s a scary expression!” 

Hakuryuu kept ignoring Judar for the rest of the class. Judar. He had been in the same elementary school with Hakuryuu, and everyone knew that he was a massive bully. He called other kids names, pulled their hair, insulted anyone, caused fights, and encouraged others to turn against each other. At one point he had also picked Hakuryuu as his special target. Hakuryuu was a sensitive child who cried easily, and this had only encouraged the school’s bully number one. 

Judar was a problem child, and understandably so. He was an orphan who had moved from orphanage to orphanage, and family to family. No-one seemed to be able to tame him. Hakuryuu could now see why he behaved in such a way: he was probably using bullying as an outlet to express how bad he felt. Still, Hakuryuu wasn’t going to use this to excuse his past behaviour. 

Luckily for young Hakuryuu, Judar had gone to a different middle and high schools. Unfortunately, he had gone to the same school with Hakuryuu’s cousins instead. And Kouha and Kougyoku actually liked Judar, even though he was mean to them as well. Hakuryuu had wanted to forget about Judar’s existence altogether, but his cousins made it impossible. Judar would be mentioned by them and appear on their social media profiles and photos. Once, before Hakuryuu had befriended Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana, the three of them had had a run in with Judar as well. At least they could all bond over their mutual dislike of him. 

But now it turned out that Judar was in the same astronomy course with him. For a moment Hakuryuu thought about dropping the course, but ultimately decided against it. He was older and stronger now, not a crying child on a playfield, and he wasn’t going to let a demon from the past decide what courses he was going to do and not do. 

Hakuryuu wasn’t actually sure what Judar had been doing the past couple of years. He was two years older than Hakuryuu, yet now they were both freshmen at the same time. In fact, Hakuryuu was surprised Judar had been able to get into the school at all. He had never gotten good grades in school; it wasn’t that he was stupid, he just didn’t care. He also had the worst memory Hakuryuu had ever witnessed on a person not suffering from dementia. Needless to say, Judar wasn’t wealthy either. Hakuryuu was curious as to what Judar had done in order to get there, but there was no way he was going to ask or speak to the other at all. 

In light of all of this, colour Hakuryuu surprised when Judar was actually an active student in class, who asked questions, contributed to conversations, and did his homework. Seemed to actually enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2

“Can you lend me a pencil?” 

“No.” 

So Hakuryuu might have broken his promise of never talking to Judar at all. Because they sat next to each other in class, they often had to do pair work together. If Hakuryuu could’ve changed seats, he would’ve but there was no such possibility. Thus, he had had to relent just a little bit. Whatever he said was still short with little regard to the proper manners Hakuryuu usually kept in mind. 

“Come on. I forgot mine at home.” 

“That’s your problem.” 

Judar sighed. No matter how casual the things he said were, Hakuryuu treated him like the lowest trash. Not that Judar didn’t see where it was coming from, but even about a pencil? Unreasonable! 

“What’s the weather like in no-fun-land? Spoilsport...” Judar asked Hakuryuu as he rose to go and ask for a pencil from someone else. Every astronomy lesson was a trial of patience and keeping calm for Hakuryuu, who wanted nothing more than to deck Judar in the face for everything he had done. Even for his current attitude.

His friends had given Hakuryuu their fullest sympathies when they heard of Hakuryuu’s luck in the course. 

“What class did you have?” Morgiana asked as Hakuryuu joined their table in the cafeteria with a sour expression. 

“Astronomy...” Hakuryuu nearly snarled out. 

“Are the stars that uninteresting?” Alibaba questioned jokingly. 

“No, it’s that... do you know who sat next to me?” 

The three of them looked at him expectedly. 

“Judar.” 

And then their jaws dropped in surprise. 

“That Judar?” Alibaba asked, disbelieving. 

“How many other Judars do you know?” Hakuryuu sighed. 

“Wow... my condolences, man”, and Alibaba sounded like he meant it. 

“How did he even get into this school?” Aladdin asked. 

No one at the table could answer him. They speculated about it for a while, the wildest of theories involving him having committed some terrible crimes in order to get the money. Shit talking made Hakuryuu feel a bit better about it. 

Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana seemed to be doing fine in their classes. They didn’t have all the same ones, but still had the opportunity to spend more time with each other than Hakuryuu did with them. No for the first time did Hakuryuu feel a bit left out. When they had returned their trays, Alibaba and Morgiana headed to another building, hand-in-hand. Hakuryuu turned his gaze elsewhere. 

Back in high school, Hakuryuu had developed a crush on Morgiana very quickly after meeting her. He could fill an entire book describing her qualities and all of the wonderful things about her. He loved her strength, both mental and physical, he loved her quiet and timid attitude, he loved her politeness, and he loved her will to always help her friends. He also loved her desire to get what she wants, and attitude of never giving up on what she thinks is right. 

Hakuryuu was desperate to confess his feelings to Morgiana, and near the end of high school he did just that. Unfortunately for him, while Morgiana felt honoured by being loved so, the romantic feelings weren’t mutual. That wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much as knowing that Morgiana actually had feelings for someone else did. And not just anyone, but their common friend Alibaba. The summer vacation had allowed Hakuryuu to accept the situation, but it didn’t hurt any less knowing that now, after summer, Alibaba and Morgiana were dating. As if the past few months hadn’t been bad enough for Hakuryuu for other reasons. 

At home, Hakuryuu sat down to water and otherwise take care of his many houseplants. Never had he had any before leaving home, but now he felt like he needed to have a lot of responsibilities to occupy his days with. So, this meant many courses, a lot of schoolwork, gardening and taking care of houseplants. Hakuryuu would’ve probably got a pet as well, had they not been such a long-lasting investment. His friends tried to invite him to join them here and there. Sometimes he did. His siblings tried to contact him by calling and texting (numbers blocked), on social media (Hakuryuu deleted them), and by trying to get Hakuryuu to answer to their other relatives instead, such as their cousins. Hakuryuu was able to see though this easily, and thus managed to avoid any such situations easily. If only he could’ve moved to another side of the country, never to be heard of in Rakushou ever again. 

Business and astronomy were, of course, not the only classes Hakuryuu had. One of Hakuryuu’s favourites was, without a doubt, the cooking course. Cooking had been a passion for him ever since Hakuei taught him some of it. Strangely enough, Hakuei herself wasn’t a good cook at all, but Hakuryuu made up for it by being very skilled. Not that this hobby was exactly respected in his home. The course was still something he found to be nice and relaxing between all of the more academic ones that required a lot of reading. 

Two months into the course they all decided to hold a small event in the school lounge, giving little samples of their cooking to the other students for free. Their theme was internationality, and they had foods from every continent. Hakuryuu was pretty excited to be able to show off his skills, as he liked to experiment all kind of things from all over the world. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have anyone to taste test his creations. He liked the idea of getting to hear people’s comments, as otherwise cooking had become quite lonely for him. 

The day of the event went well. Everyone seemed to be excited, whether it was because they got to taste new flavours, or because they got free food. Hakuryuu’s mood dipped instantly, however, when he saw Judar approaching his table. Without saying anything, Judar picked up one of the fish things and took a bite of it. 

“Hmm. Pretty good”, he said, stuffed the rest of it into his mouth, and went on his way. 

Hakuryuu didn’t know how to feel about these situations anymore. Sometimes Judar seemed to insist on annoying Hakuryuu to the best of his ability, but other times he might slip in a positive comment or two. He didn’t really seem to think about it, though. Hakuryuu guessed that Judar simply said whatever popped into his mind without any filter. He didn’t seem to be very perceiving of his surroundings or the people around him. 

It seems that Hakuyuu and Hakuren might have become offended at Hakuryuu’s refusal to talk to them. Or Hakuren at least, Hakuyuu might have just given up, maybe realizing that Hakuryuu wasn’t going to budge. Hakuryuu liked to think that the older brothers he had once admired would be able to understand this much at least, but he was not sure. It took way longer for Hakuei to give in, however. Months, in fact. But eventually, even she seemed to take the hint. As much as his siblings trying to contact him annoyed him, there was something else that also hurt: the knowledge that his father hadn’t tried to do so. Hakuryuu never wanted to hear from his mother again, but his father... Hakuryuu tried not to think about it. The little child inside of him was still asking for his father’s validation. And that was a part of him that he had to kill. Hakutoku was completely blinded by anything Gyokuen said anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

Part of the astronomy course was a trip to an observatory. Because they wanted to see the starry sky, they had to stay there overnight. Not even for the bus trip could Hakuryuu get any peace, as Judar insisted on sitting next to him in there as well. And now he had no excuse: there were plenty of empty seats in the vehicle. 

“Have you ever been to an observatory before?” Judar asked Hakuryuu. 

“No”, came the short, uninterested answer. 

“I thought you wouldn’t have. You know, I’ve been to them quite often in the past few years, so maybe I could teach you there”, Judar laughed. Although to Hakuryuu, the astronomy class was just an extra thing, he had learned that it was actually what Judar was majoring in. No wonder he seemed so interested in it; you’d hope he would be if it was his main subject. 

“No thank you.” 

“Ugh, Hakuryuu. Are you sure you’re even going to able to survive the night without your mom to tuck you in?” Judar sounded annoyed. 

He doesn’t know, he doesn’t know, Hakuryuu tried telling himself in order to calm down. Or maybe he did know? Turns out he was still in contacts with Kouha and Kougyoku. Were they actually friends? They could have told him, in which case he was purposefully— 

Hakuryuu sighed angrily. Judar seemed to take the hint, though, and decided to listen to music on his headphones for the rest of the drive. It was fast paced metal music. The volume was so high that Hakuryuu sitting next to him was able to tell that. He sighed again. Not a single moment of peace and quiet. 

At the observatory everyone gathered together to listen to their teacher hold her lesson, this time using the technology at the observatory to her benefit. They also heard from the employers of the observatory, after which they were given assignments for the rest of the day. They could work on them in groups or on their own, but one thing was clear: everyone had to be in their sleeping accommodations by 2 am. 

Hakuryuu was waiting for his turn on the telescope, which was currently in use by Judar. Judar really didn’t need any instructions but knew exactly how to use the equipment. He looked through the telescope, scribbled something in his notes, and looked again. Hakuryuu was staring at the sky through the narrow gap but at some point, without even noticing it, his gaze turned to Judar’s face instead. Judar was beaming. His eyes sparkled, and he seemed to be pressing his lips together in excitement, as if trying to hold his smile. Hakuryuu decided to stare at the floor instead while waiting. 

The day went by quickly, and soon it was time for everyone to retire for the night. Hakuryuu was one of the last to leave when he was packing up his things. He proceeded into the stairway when he encountered Judar again. 

“You stayed for this long as well? For a second I was wondering why you were on this course in the first place, but I guess you do actually have some interest in this stuff.” 

Hakuryuu hmm’d back in response and started descending the stairs. Judar followed a few steps behind him, and there was silence between them. Hakuryuu reached the door at the bottom to push it open. 

_Clank._ Huh? 

Hakuryuu pulled at the door. _Clank_. More pushes. _Clank, clank, clank_. 

“Ummmmmm”, came Judar’s confused reaction. He moved closer and tried to open the door as well. No dice, it was locked. No switch they tried would unlock it, either. 

“Don’t tell me your phone is also in the locker downstairs”, Judar asked. 

“It is.” 

“Fuck.” 

Fuck indeed, Hakuryuu thought. 

“Maybe we can get back upstairs?” Judar suggested. They both climbed up the stairs but again, no luck. This door was locked as well. 

“What kind of shitty design is this? There is no way out in a staircase? What if there was a fire?” Judar was rambling with clear annoyance. For once, Hakuryuu agreed with him. The place was booked for the students for these two days: no one was going to show up for at least four hours. 

They walked back down, and Judar started kicking at the window in the door. 

“What are you doing?” Hakuryuu asked. 

“Breaking the window, of course!” 

“Why would you do that? It’s not big enough for either of us to fit through”, Hakuryuu reasoned. Judar seemed to finally understand this and stopped kicking. 

“What if it started an alarm?” Judar pondered hopefully. 

“It wouldn’t”, Hakuryuu knew. 

Both of them sat on the floor, leaning on the wall. It became very awkward in about three minutes. 

“Soooo...” Judar started a conversation, “what is your major?” 

Did Hakuryuu want to talk with Judar? No, but... there was nothing for them to do for literal hours, so... “Business.” 

“What’s that like?” 

“I like it.” 

“Sounds like a pain. Like the type of shit your dad would want you to study, even if your true passion was starting an emo band”, Judar thought out loud weirdly specifically. Was that from a movie? 

“Well, I still like it. And no-one forced me into it”, came Hakuryuu’s comment. 

“That’s good. I heard from Kougyoku that there was some stuff going on, but she wouldn’t tell me the details no matter how much I tried to annoy and bribe the gossip out of her. So, what’s the deal with your family?” Judar asked out of curiosity. Okay. This gave Hakuryuu some peace of mind. Judar did not, in fact, know, and hadn’t made the previous comment on purpose. 

“It’s none of your business.” 

“Fine, whatever. Keep your secrets”, Judar pouted. 

At some point both of them started dozing off. Every now and then Hakuryuu would snap awake, only to fall back asleep only minutes later. Judar, on the other hand, seemed to be sleeping against the wall with no problems or sudden awakenings. Eventually Hakuryuu woke up peacefully as he felt that the room was getting brighter. The pillow he was leaning on was very soft, but also kind of tickling. Hmm, tickling pillow... 

Wait a second. Slowly, Hakuryuu opened his eyes, only to see Judar’s chest and shoulder right in front of him. He sat up immediately and twitched away from the boy whose braid-covered shoulder he had been sleeping on as if he burned him. Hakuryuu was going in mini-panic mode. It was so embarrassing, but... Judar seemed to be sleeping soundly. He had not woken up and noticed Hakuryuu, which was some relief. Now the shame only existed in Hakuryuu’s heart. 

Suddenly, Hakuryuu heard noises that finally seemed to wake Judar up as well. Someone opened the door to the stairway, and the two boys saw their teacher sighing with relief. 

“Oh, thank God you two are safe and okay!” she sounded out of breath. 

“Okay? We spent God knows how many hours stuck in a fucking stairway!” Judar complained, cranky from having just woken up. 

Their teacher apologized to them profusely and promised to take all responsibility. Turns out it didn’t take them four but six whole hours to get out. At least they got the freedom to skip some of the later assignments and ended up getting much more leisure time for the rest of the day. 

Not that it mattered much to Hakuryuu. His mind was preoccupied with “I can’t believe that thing just happened”. 

“I don’t know, now that I think of it. Is it worth it to sleep in a stairway if you don’t have to do any homework? Sounds kinda easy to me. Maybe this wasn’t all bad, right, Hakuryuu?” Judar said. 

“Y-yeah...” Hakuryuu stuttered awkwardly and started walking away. Judar watched him go with a confused expression.


	4. Chapter 4

Although things had seemed bleak to Hakuryuu just a few months ago, he felt like his life had actually started improving a bit. Not that he didn’t still feel bad about things but being out of the stifling atmosphere at his family’s home was definitely a positive. And being able to avoid his mother as well. Hakuryuu did well in his courses and was enjoying his spare time with his hobbies. He still felt it difficult to make new friends or connect with his already existing ones (the three of them), but this didn’t seem anywhere near as big of a problem when other parts of his life were going a lot better. 

Then there was, of course, the difficult to think about topic of Judar. Even when Hakuryuu knew that what occurred would forever be known to him and him only, it didn’t change the fact that he felt weird about it. It was awkward to him whenever he saw Judar (which was at least twice a week), which had softened the edges of how he regarded Judar generally. Judar’s enthusiasm was contagious: Hakuryuu really had started caring about the lessons when he saw Judar working his way through them with such a drive. 

As it is to be expected, if things are going better now, they will definitely crash down hard and soon. 

Hakuryuu was waiting for the lesson to start when suddenly, his phone rang. The caller was a number that was not saved on his phone, but since there was still a moment before the teacher arrived, Hakuryuu picked it up. 

“Hakuryuu Ren.” 

“Hakuryuu? Oh, thank goodness this was the right number! It is me, Kougyoku. No, don’t hang up, this is not about that!” Hakuryuu heard the kind voice of the youngest of his cousins. 

“What do you want?” Hakuryuu sounded bitter. 

“This is important, I swear. I’m not going to meddle with your problems with your family, it’s just that, I just got a call from Hakuyuu and...” Kougyoku seemed to be gathering some mental strength in order to be able to say what followed. 

“Hakutoku had a heart attack. He’s in the hospital now. It was pretty bad; they fear there might be some permanent damage...” 

A beat. 

“Wh... what?” Hakuryuu didn’t seem to believe what he had just heard. 

“It’s true. We know you won’t answer to their calls, but your siblings still thought that you deserved to know. That’s why they called me to inform you”, Kougyoku explained. 

Hakuryuu’s siblings thought that Hakuryuu deserved to know, so that means... 

“And what about mother?” 

“I’m... so sorry, Hakuryuu. She said that, that after you made your decision, you’re not welcome back there anymore. That you can’t just waltz back in when things get serious if you don’t want to do so when they’re normal... Her words. Yuu, Ren and Ei disagree, of course, but it’s not like there’s much they can do, so...” Kougyoku trailed off. 

“And father said?” 

“I don’t think that he knows what’s happening. I don’t think that he’s even fully aware of what happened to him, yet”, Kougyoku explained. “Gyokuen won’t leave his bedside or let anyone talk to him privately.” 

So that’s how it was, then. 

“Alright. Thanks for informing me”, Hakuryuu said with a resigned voice. 

“It’s no problem! Are uh... are you going to be okay?” Kougyoku was hesitant. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it”, Hakuryuu did his best to sound reassuring. They ended the call, after which Hakuryuu put his phone back on the table and simply stared right in front of him in a daze. 

“Heyyyy Hakuryuu! What’s up?” Judar arrived in the classroom and sat next to him as always. Hakuryuu didn’t respond with words or a glance. In fact, he didn’t seem to register that Judar was there at all. And it was not in the “I’m pretending you don’t exist” way either. Not that Hakuryuu had been doing that to him anymore. 

“Hakuryuu? Anyone home?” Judar tried to wake Hakuryuu up from his stupor. 

But Hakuryuu didn’t turn to him or say anything. Instead, there was a lone tear rolling down his cheek. And then another, and another. 

“H-hey, Hakuryuu, you okay?” Judar started worrying a bit, and he put his hand on Hakuryuu’s shoulder. This finally caused Hakuryuu to stir and notice what was happening. He started wiping away his tears quickly. 

“I-it’s nothing, I um... I’m going to...” Hakuryuu couldn’t form a full sentence, but instead picked up his things and hurried out of the classroom. 

“Where are you going?” Judar asked confusedly, grabbed his bag and went after Hakuryuu into the corridor. “Wait up!” he shouted and ran to catch up to Hakuryuu who was walking away as quickly as he could. 

“What happened? Hey”, Judar reached out to stop Hakuryuu from leaving, “hey!”, he finally managed to block his path. Hakuryuu took a step back and wiped at his face again, refusing to look at Judar and staring intensely at the floor instead. Both were quiet for a moment, Judar waiting for Hakuryuu to answer any of his questions. 

He got something else instead. 

“Don’t call me a crybaby...” Hakuryuu said weakly. 

“What?” 

“Don’t you dare call me a crybaby!” Hakuryuu nearly shouted through the tears, sounding frustrated. 

“I wasn’t going...” Judar seemed stunned, “I wasn’t going to do that.” If Hakuryuu didn’t know any better, he would’ve described Judar’s tone as regretful. 

Hakuryuu let out an angry sigh and pressed his palms to his face. All one could hear in the empty corridor were his sniffles. 

“Why don’t we go and sit over there to calm down?” Judar tried to sound conciliatory and guided Hakuryuu to the bench with a hand on his back. Hakuryuu complied defeatedly. He sat down as Judar went to get him a cup of water. When Judar sat next to him and offered the cup, Hakuryuu took it and drank from it. He tried to breathe slowly in order to relax. 

“So you don’t have to tell me what happened but-” Judar started but was interrupted by Hakuryuu. 

“My father had a heart attack and is in the hospital”, his voice was hollow. 

“Oh? I’m sorry to hear that...” Judar didn’t really know how to be considerate, or how to deal with a sad person, so he was starting to feel really uncomfortable. 

“That’s not really the issue though”, Hakuryuu said all of a sudden. 

“... so what is the issue then?” 

“I know that my bitch of a mother is the one who caused it”, Hakuryuu dropped. He was certain of it. His father wasn't that old, and he was in good health. He ate well, exercised... In fact, he was one of the last people Hakuryuu would expect to have any health problems. 

Judar was looking at Hakuryuu wide-eyed. Not only because of the information, but because Hakuryuu had phrased it like that. He sounded furious, and his eyes shined dangerously. Judar had no doubt that if Hakuryuu’s mother had been right there right then, Hakuryuu would’ve chopped her head clean off. It wasn’t something Judar had ever expected to see on Hakuryuu’s face out of all people. 

“Now she is guarding him like a hawk and won’t even let me see him.” 

“Oh, well. That sounds bad. Now I’m glad that I never had a mother to pull this kind of shit on me”, Judar tried to joke in order to lighten up the mood. 

“No, you’re not”, Hakuryuu deadpanned. 

Aaaaand the mood slumped back down. Judar didn’t deny that or say anything else to it either. Eventually Hakuryuu stood up: “We’re late from class.” 

“You’re going back? Don’t you want to take rest of the day off? I could take you back to your apartment on my motorcycle.” 

“Do you just want to skip?” Hakuryuu sounded unamused. 

“Look”, Judar said defensively, “I’m all done with the exercises in this topic. There would be nothing new for me anyways.” 

Hakuryuu was tempted to take up on the offer. He felt exhausted all of a sudden and didn’t really want to go back. Laying down in his bed and wrapping a blanket around himself sounded way more appealing. 

“... alright then”, he relented. Because he wasn’t looking at Judar, he didn’t see how hopeful the other looked after hearing that. 

The motorcycle ride was way calmer than Hakuryuu had expected. For some reason, he had thought that Judar would speed and make quick turns, but he was following the traffic laws just fine instead. Judar dropped Hakuryuu off next to his apartment building. 

“See you at school”, Judar said as Hakuryuu turned to walk inside. 

“Judar?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks.” 

Then Hakuryuu went indoors. Once again he didn’t look at Judar, this time missing a smile before the other went on his way.


	5. Chapter 5

It turned out that Judar and Hakuryuu would not, in fact, see each other at school. Not for weeks. 

Hakuryuu laid on his bed and checked the time on his phone. 10:30. After the incident the other day, Hakuryuu had not shown up at school since. The only times he had even left the house was twice when he went to get food from the nearby grocery store, and that was out of pure necessity. Laundry was scattered all over the floor of his bedroom, and Hakuryuu stared at the pile of clothes for a moment before turning to face the wall instead. He closed his eyes and entered the state between awake and asleep that had become so familiar to him during these past few weeks. 

After Judar had dropped Hakuryuu off at his apartment, his mother had been waiting for him at his front door. Upon seeing that, Hakuryuu felt like a rock had been dropped in his stomach. He tried his best to stay poker faced, to not let his fear show. Still, Hakuryuu knew that Gyokuen was a master of digging it out of people and putting it out in the open. 

“What do you want?” Hakuryuu said darkly. 

“Oh my, is this how you greet your mother? Especially after not having seen her for months? You did leave in such a dramatic fashion, after all...” 

“Didn’t you just say today that I wasn’t welcome back?” 

“So the little birds have carried the news to you already? Well, I was expecting that”, Gyokuen said. She was clearly having fun with the whole situation. “Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you hear from second-hand sources? Even a child knows how a broken telephone works.” 

Hakuryuu frowned at her. 

“Of course you’re welcome back. What I said was, however, that if you’re going to walk in just to take whatever you want from us and not have any consideration for others, then do not bother”, Gyokuen was spinning a narrative where Hakuryuu was a selfish, moody child, who was making an issue out of nothing. Hakuryuu could see that now. And without a doubt, that was exactly what she got his father to believe, as well. 

“You did it, didn’t you?” Hakuryuu asked with an accusation. 

“No matter how beautiful and kind your mother is, even she makes mistakes”, Gyokuen sounded disappointed. 

Mistakes? “Your aim was to kill him?” the undertone of Hakuryuu’s voice was as cold as ice. Gyokuen smirked. 

“No one would ever believe you”, she was smug and confident. And correct. “Your fight for your freedom, it is so very adorable”, she patted him on the head, smiling. Then she started descending the stairs: “When you realize that you cannot be rid of us, that you can’t make it on your own, don’t worry. We will be waiting.” And she left. 

Then Hakuryuu had entered his apartment, dropped his bag on the floor, and thrown the object nearest to him straight to the wall. He was angry and felt like screaming, but instead he deflated like a balloon and collapsed on his bed. He hasn’t been up that much since. 

Hakuryuu had no motivation to get up, to take care of his appearance, to clean up in the house, to cook, to water the plants, to go to school. Most of the time, he slept. Or laid on his bed reading on his phone. The blinds were closed, so it was dark all day long. He was ashamed of the way he had ended up, too. He only had to see Gyokuen for a few minutes, and it had this effect? 

Hakuryuu hadn’t really been thinking about what his family members were doing. Mostly he had focused on his own life. Hearing news about them suddenly was like a wakeup call: Life goes on for them as well. Hakuryuu feared for his father’s health, for his safety. Gyokuen had been correct when she said that no-one would believe Hakuryuu if he told them that it was her doing. His siblings already considered him to be delusional on that front. And his father would get angry even at the implication that his perfect, loving wife could have ever done anything bad. 

Helplessness weighed Hakuryuu down. Forced him to keep laying on that bed. Alibaba had called him a few times, asking why they hadn’t seen him at school. Hakuryuu said that he had fallen ill, but no, it wasn’t anything serious, don’t worry, I don’t need any help. Even Morgiana had called once to ask if he was feeling fine, so Hakuryuu had managed to convince her that he had simply suffered a bit of a burn-out. Hakuryuu thought that there wouldn’t really be anyone else who would make notice of his absence. 

He was wrong, of course. After not having seen Hakuryuu for weeks, Judar was getting very worried, knowing what had happened to him earlier. A week’s absence, considering the circumstances? Understandable in Judar’s opinion. But this was too much. No matter who he asked, no-one had seen Hakuryuu. Judar even stooped so low as to ask Alidumbaba and his stupid friend group, who he knew to be friends with Hakuryuu, but they considered him suspicious and simply said that Hakuryuu had a bit of a fever and that’s it. Finally, one day, with the excuse of bringing Hakuryuu some handouts he had missed out on, Judar made his way towards Hakuryuu’s apartment. 

Papers in hand he rang the doorbell once. Then a second, and a third time. Eventually, he heard a thump from behind the door, and someone turned the lock. Hakuryuu opened the door just a crack, seeing who it was on the other side. 

“Judar?” Hakuryuu said, surprised. Judar couldn’t believe his eyes. The always so clean and proper Hakuryuu had dishevelled hair and was wearing pyjamas. His face was tired, and the apartment behind him pitch black even though it was 3 pm on a sunny day. 

“I came to bring you handouts”, Judar used his excuse, handing the papers to Hakuryuu. 

“Thanks...” came Hakuryuu’s tired voice as he accepted the little pile. 

“So, I guess you really do have a fever, then?” 

“Something like that.” 

“Right”, Judar didn’t believe that Hakuryuu had any illness. “Can I come inside?” 

“I don’t think that you should, it’s very messy...” 

“Haha, you should see my apartment”, Judar waved off Hakuryuu’s protests and walked in regardless. It’s not like Hakuryuu was resisting _that_ much. 

Judar looked around. “Kind of sterile décor", he commented while opening the blinds and pushing items off the sofa so he could sit on it. Hakuryuu watched helplessly from the side-lines but ended up sitting down on the sofa as well. 

“So when are you coming back to school?” Judar asked while he leaned back and put his feet on the sofa table. 

Hakuryuu looked away and muttered: “I don’t know.” 

Judar looked Hakuryuu up and down and proclaimed: “I think you should come tomorrow.” 

Hakuryuu’s face told that he didn’t really believe that he would. 

“Was it your, I quote, “bitch of a mother”?” Judar asked. 

“... yeah. She was waiting for me at the door. Confessed that it was a murder attempt. And no, there is nothing I can do about that.” 

Judar whistled. “Wowzie.” 

There was a short silence. Then as quickly as Judar had settled down, he stood up and clapped his hands together. “Let’s make a deal, shall we? Today, you’ll take a shower and clean all of this shit up, and tomorrow morning I’ll come and pick you up to school. That way you can’t avoid it, or I will forcibly drag you down.” 

Hakuryuu thought for a moment. “Okay”, he agreed finally. 

As Judar was leaving out of the door, Hakuryuu asked: “Why are you being nice all of a sudden? To me specifically.” 

Judar shrugged. There was no way he was going to reveal the reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by broken telephone i mean the children's game where you whisper a sentence from one person to another


	6. Chapter 6

It became an everyday thing. Every morning Judar would be waiting for Hakuryuu with his motorcycle and give him a ride to the campus. The two also ended up talking more, whether it was in class or while walking between the buildings or eating at the same table in the cafeteria when Hakuryuu didn’t have his other friends to sit with. Sometimes he decided to sit with Judar even when the others were there. 

Judar learned that Hakuryuu liked cooking and gardening. He liked responsibility and was determined to reach his goals. Judar learned about his fucked-up family and the fight they had had. Hakuryuu learned that after high school, Judar had had some difficult times but eventually realized that he had to step up if he wanted to study his passion: the stars. Judar had gone back to improve his grades and had received some money from charities aimed at orphaned youth in order to help with the tuition fees. Judar was a bit carefree for certain, but he wasn’t stupid or incapable of understanding others. Eventually Hakuryuu was becoming so close with Judar that his other friends started noticing. 

“I thought it was weird when Judar asked about you during your fever, but now I see you hanging out with him and I’m even more weirded out!” Alibaba told Hakuryuu one day. 

“He asked YOU about me?” Hakuryuu raised his eyebrow. 

“That wasn’t the main point!” 

“It seems that you’ve started to get along in your class?” Aladdin asked more calmly. Out of the three, he had the least negative opinion on Judar. Least negative wasn’t quite the same as positive, though. 

“I don’t think that you should trust him. He is a bad person”, Morgiana commented. 

“He isn’t that bad”, Hakuryuu got defensive. 

“Not that bad? You know what he did to Cassim!” Alibaba couldn’t believe that Hakuryuu was saying this. Hakuryuu had hated Judar before the three of them had even had the displeasure of running into him. Someone must have possessed Hakuryuu. 

“That was years ago. Besides, why do I have to make my decisions based on your feelings about them?” now Hakuryuu was getting annoyed. Having others telling him what to do was seriously bothering. 

“Do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth?” Alibaba asked. Hakuryuu didn’t stay around to be questioned even more. 

That night Hakuryuu had promised to go and see a movie with Judar. It was some kind of action thing, Hakuryuu didn’t really care much about it, but Judar loved them and Hakuryuu was fine with going along. After the movie was over, the two of them sat down on a bench outdoors. 

“Look, you can see the stars surprisingly well today”, Judar pointed out while looking up. Hakuryuu shifted his gaze upwards as well and could see that Judar was right. He didn’t see as many things on the sky as Judar could, however, and soon he turned to look at Judar’s side profile instead. 

Judar’s pitch black hair was always sticking out a bit to every direction at the top of his head, but there was not a day when his long hair wasn’t in a neat braid. His skin was as pale as the moonlight, and every day he would wear those same, red contact lenses. Judar’s cheekbones were higher than Hakuryuu’s and anyone could see that he was wearing makeup, most visibly eyeliner and purple eye shadow. Hakuryuu had never really understood why a man would bother with any of that, but he had to admit that it suited Judar well. 

While shifting his posture, Hakuryuu accidentally touched Judar’s hand on the bench with his own. He was about to quickly pull it back and apologize, but then he saw that Judar blinked and clearly noticed Hakuryuu’s touch but... he didn’t move his hand or even turn to Hakuryuu. Just let it be there. Hakuryuu did pull his hand back, but now he felt that his heart was beating in his chest like a drum. 

After that night, Hakuryuu couldn’t stop thinking about what it meant. For himself, for Judar, for them. Did Judar have a crush on him? Was that the reason why he had been so eager to be his pair in class and to befriend him, in a way? Was he gay? He didn’t remember that Judar would’ve had any girlfriends, but he couldn’t remember any boyfriends either. He did know that there were some kinds of relationships he had been in, but were those exclusively with women, Hakuryuu didn’t know. Maybe Judar would’ve fit into some kind of stereotype with how concerned he was about his appearance, but that didn’t actually confirm anything. 

Hakuryuu was also stuck thinking about his own feelings. He had a crush on Morgiana, so he had to be straight, right? Hakuryuu had never, ever thought of a man like that, but... No matter how he tried to deny it, as soon as he had started inspecting his own feelings for Judar, he had noticed that they were definitely of the same kind as his feelings for Morgiana. Hakuryuu was scared. Scared of the new feelings he never expected to experience and scared of getting rejected the same way as he was with Morgiana. He really had no option but to ask Judar about his preferences, no matter how awkward that might be. 

One day, Judar and Hakuryuu were in Hakuryuu’s apartment doing homework. This wasn’t uncommon. For Judar, these meetings consisted, however, more of discussing than any actual homework doing. 

“I can’t stand Olba and Toto in my physics class. They are always hugging and sucking faces and it’s honestly getting on my nerves”, Judar complained. “Like it’s nice that you have a girl but please, let us calculate in peace.” 

“Have you ever had a girl?” Hakuryuu was definitely going to take advantage of this situation. 

“I tried dating some in high school but, eh. I quickly found out that girls are boring”, Judar said, and didn’t seem to be very fond of those memories. 

“Would you rather have a guy, then? Or no-one at all?” 

Judar thought about how to answer. “I’d rather have a boyfriend, yeah...” he was suddenly very interested in looking around the room, clearly anxious about Hakuryuu’s reaction. 

“I had a crush on a girl earlier this year. It didn’t work out though, she didn’t feel the same”, Hakuryuu confessed while still writing in his notebook. 

“Oh, really... ?” Judar’s voice was strained. 

“Yeah. Though during this autumn, something that I never expected would happen, happened. I ended up developing a crush on a guy instead.” 

Judar wasn’t looking at Hakuryuu, but intensely staring at one spot in the wall. His whole body was visibly tense. 

After a moment, Hakuryuu said: “Judar. Look at me.” 

And Judar turned his head towards Hakuryuu, and Hakuryuu looked at him in the eyes. Moment by moment Judar’s face turned redder as his mind repeated: _Is this actually happening to me right now???_ Hakuryuu reached across the sofa to grab Judar’s hand, and Judar returned the grip. He asked Judar: “Do you want to know who it is?” 

Hakuryuu got up and sat closer to Judar, right next to him, and begun telling: “He seems rude and frivolous on the outside but in reality, he is very perceptive and would do anything to help those important to him. He loves the stars and whenever he looks up at the night sky, his eyes shine just like them.” 

The whole time Hakuryuu moved his face closer and closer to Judar’s, giving him plenty of time to pull back if he didn’t want this (not to repeat how he had gone about it with Morgiana), but Judar stayed unmoving. Eventually Hakuryuu closed all distance between them and pressed his mouth on Judar’s. Judar kissed him back. Hakuryuu deepened the kiss and raised the hand that wasn’t holding Judar’s to his jaw. Judar moved his free hand over Hakuryuu’s shoulder to pull him closer and do a half hug at the same time. After going at it for a while, they broke the kiss, and Hakuryuu pressed their foreheads and noses together, looking straight into Judar’s bright red eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sigh pronoun game, "displeasure of running into him" by "him" i of course mean judar, not hakuryuu


	7. Chapter 7

Just a week ago there had been snow, but it had just melted. Hakuryuu looked outside through the glass doors of one of the buildings at school and saw rain pouring down. He sighed, took the umbrella out of his bag and stepped outside. Just as he had opened the umbrella, he saw his three friends approaching. They hadn’t seen each other much lately. 

“Hakuryuu! Would you like come with us to a café?” Aladdin asked him. 

“Sorry, I can’t. Judar’s coming to my place for the evening”, Hakuryuu explained. 

“You’re still hanging out with him... Aren’t you going to keep any distance at all?” Alibaba was displeased. Hakuryuu knew the two had bad history, but it couldn’t be helped. 

“No, I’m not.” 

“You could.” 

“Alibaba.” 

“What?” 

“Judar is my boyfriend”, Hakuryuu deadpanned. 

All three of them looked at Hakuryuu as if he had grown three heads. 

“Was that a joke?” Alibaba sure wished it was. 

“No.” 

“You don’t have to do such a thing. If you’re feeling lonely or bad, it’s still not a good idea to simply latch onto the first person who--” Morgiana began, but this made Hakuryuu so angry he clenched his fists and interrupted her. 

“Shut up. Don’t come to me and tell which ones of my feelings are real and which ones are not. And don’t speak such ill of him just because you had one bad encounter with him three years ago. I don’t want to hear any of it”, Hakuryuu declared and stomped off. He hoped that Judar’s company could lift his spirits. 

Maybe affected by the earlier situation, Hakuryuu and Judar eventually ended up speaking about the past that evening. 

“I actually liked you in elementary school. I wanted for us to be friends”, Judar confessed. 

“What? You picked on me all the time!” 

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know how to deal with the positive feelings...” 

“Not going to lie, I hated having you around. You wouldn’t stop calling me names”, Hakuryuu was merciless. 

“Sorry about that.” 

“You don’t have to apologize”, Hakuryuu reassured him. 

“In high school it was me who couldn’t be rid of your stupid cousins”, Judar complained. 

“No matter how much you deny it, your relationships are clearly friendships with them.” 

“Ew. If I had to befriend your cousins, I’d rather pick Kouen.” 

Now it was Hakuryuu’s turn to say ew. 

“You don’t like him?” Judar found it funny. 

“Not really. He knows about my mother’s depravity but like everyone else, ignores it”, Hakuryuu muttered. 

Hakuryuu’s difficult family. There was no place for the new couple to visit on holidays, as Judar was still very much an orphan, and Hakuryuu’s family seemed to Judar to be batshit insane based on what Hakuryuu had told him. Not that Judar ever wanted to let Hakuryuu go back there, where he was abused and was also under a possible threat of being murdered by his mom. 

“Are you sure it wasn’t your family who forced you to pick business?” Judar asked. 

“Yes, I am sure. Although, they were pleased of my choice. Probably one of the few times in my life”, Hakuryuu said sourly. 

“I can’t see you as some boring businessman. You should do something that you’re more passionate about!” 

“What, like you and your stars?” Hakuryuu teased. 

“ _Exactly_ like me and my stars! Something you love doing, like cooking maybe”, Judar suggested. “Your cooking is so good you could start you own restaurant if you wanted to!” 

“From a great, upper class Ren to a restaurant chef. My father would have a heart attack for real.” 

“Fuck your family at this point, honestly! Since you’re already studying business, you could use those skills for the management side of things. Take some more culinary courses and grab degree in that too while you’re at it. It fits perfectly!” 

Hakuryuu thought about Judar’s suggestion. Abandoning all expectations set on him and doing something he loved instead. Hakuryuu supposed that that was how most people tried to pick their professions. There was something oddly liberating about the thought. 

“And if I decided to do just that, could I expect you to support me along the way?” Hakuryuu asked, although he already knew the answer. He moved on the bed they were on, sitting on Judar’s lap instead, facing him. 

“As long as it’s not going back to that freak house, I would support you with anything.” 

Hakuryuu ran his fingers through Judar’s hair before tilting his head up with his hand to kiss him. Soon they were kissing each other’s mouths, cheeks and necks, while their hands wandered under their shirts. Hakuryuu started grinding his hips against Judar’s, who soon joined in. It didn’t take long for their clothes to be discarded on the floor, after which Hakuryuu pushed Judar to lay on the bed and leaned on top of him. While kissing, holding and embracing each other, they ended up frotting until they both finished. Hakuryuu looked down at his flushing and panting boyfriend and then at the hands they had intertwined during the act, and he thought that this person was something he wished would remain in his life. 

On the following day they had gone downtown to shop. Judar was excitedly telling Hakuryuu about some game he liked, when they suddenly heard a female voice calling: “Hakuryuu?” 

They both turned to see a woman, who looked like a genderbent Hakuryuu in Judar’s eyes. She hurried up to them. 

“Hakuryuu, I have finally reached you... I haven’t heard from you for so long, I was worried”, she said. “Could we talk? Just the two of us?” 

“He’s not going anywhere”, Hakuryuu answered coldly. 

“And this friend of yours is?” 

Hakuryuu sighed. 

“Judar, this is my sister Hakuei. Hakuei, this is my boyfriend Judar”, he introduced them. 

“Hello”, Judar waved at her awkwardly. 

“Boyfriend?” Hakuei sounded conflicted. “You’ve never mentioned such a thing, or that you are...” 

“Maybe it has never come up before. Do you have a problem with it?” Hakuryuu was very confrontational. If anyone in his family insulted Judar, he was ready to throw hands. 

“No, it’s just a bit surprising”, Hakuei tried to calm him down. “I do actually have something to tell you.” 

“What is it?” 

“We know you don’t like mother, so... we thought that if you’d still agree to meet Yuu, Ren and me, you could come for a visit next week. She won’t be home, but on a trip”, Hakuei told him. 

Hakuryuu seemed suspicious. “Why would you want me to join?” 

“We all still love you very much Hakuryuu, as our little brother. And we’d like to see you and hear how you’ve been. Ren told me to tell you: “Me, Yuu, and Kouen agree with you more than you would expect”. If that means something to you”, Hakuei tried to convince Hakuryuu. 

It was this part that piqued Hakuryuu’s interest. What else could Ren possibly be referring to, if not Gyokuen? “I’ll think about it”, Hakuryuu relented. 

“Thank you”, Hakuei smiled. 

“Come, Judar”, Hakuryuu turned to leave the scene. Judar nodded at Hakuei as a goodbye and went after his boyfriend. 

“You’ll think about it? Are you nuts?” Judar demanded to know. 

“If our parents won’t be there, then... This could be a chance for me to make up with them. I don’t actually _like_ fighting”, Hakuryuu explained. 

“Then at least let me join you”, Judar was nearly begging. 

“There’s no need. I can introduce you to them later, when the situation is clearer. She won’t be there, so I’ll be fine.”


	8. Chapter 8

Five days later Hakuryuu stood in front of his family’s mansion for the first time in six months. Nothing had changed, Hakuryuu observed, as he was greeted by the familiar gate, trees and walkway. As Hakuryuu got closer to the entrance of the main building, the doors opened, and he saw his siblings hurry outdoors to meet him. Hakuren rushed to him first, engulfing him in a crushing hug. Smiling Hakuei and calm Hakuyuu soon caught up to them as well. Hakuryuu lifted his arms a bit into the hug awkwardly. 

They didn’t really speak anything at all at first. Hakuei broke the silence by telling how happy she was that Hakuryuu had decided to show up. Hakuren broke the hug finally, patted Hakuryuu on the back and told how he hoped that they would be able to talk things out. Hakuyuu nodded in agreement. Eventually Hakuryuu expressed how he didn’t want to fight either. Still, he wasn’t going to compromise on the things most important to him. It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn serious: the elephant in the room was their mother. As all four of them moved indoors and sat comfortably in a half circle of chairs, starting to untangle that particular knot would take a while. 

Hakuryuu looked around the familiar room, ever unchanging. The walls were white with one abstract painting, and the furniture were sparse. The giant windows that lit up the room did little to bring it more colour, as the sky outdoors was white and cloudy. _Sterile décor_ , Hakuryuu suddenly remembered. He realized how much he still was Hakuryuu of the Ren family in his ways, but instead of angering him, he felt a bit amused by it now. Tea was served, as was the custom, and then the conversation that had to be had could begin. 

“Hakuei doesn’t know yet”, Hakuyuu told Hakuryuu, although he had already guessed that based on their earlier conversation the previous week. 

“Know about what?” Hakuei naturally wanted to know. 

“The truth about our father’s heart attack”, Hakuren elaborated. 

Hakuei seemed confused. “The truth?” 

None of the three brothers seemed to know how to break the news in the most considerate way, but it had to be done. Therefore, Hakuryuu simply stated: “It was mother’s attempt to kill him.” 

Hakuei’s jaw dropped at this. She looked at her older brothers for confirmation, and both of them had serious expressions. “You’re lying”, Hakuei said, disbelieving. 

“He’s not”, Hakuyuu confirmed. 

“She confessed it to me herself”, Hakuryuu added. 

Now Hakuren and Hakuyuu looked surprised too. “She did?” 

“Yes, right after the event, she came to my apartment.” 

“How did she find you when not even we could? And we seriously tried”, Hakuren wondered. Hakuryuu shrugged as a response. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know. 

Hakuei didn’t seem to be getting over her shock. “Why would mother do such a thing?” 

“Because she is an abusive sadist, this is what I’ve been telling you since we were children”, Hakuryuu had an angry edge to the tone of his voice, and he was about to stand up from his chair. 

“Now, now”, Hakuren tried to calm the situation down before it could escalate in the first place. 

“We know that we’ve failed to protect you as our little brother, and there is nothing we regret more”, Hakuyuu said sincerely, and Hakuren agreed. Hakuryuu relented and sat back down. 

Hakuei was devastated. “I never would have thought... If only I had known. I should’ve taken you seriously”, she felt unhappy and ashamed. 

“It’s not really important now”, Hakuryuu admitted. 

“Yes. Gyokuen is still very much free to do as she wishes, and she has our father’s support”, Hakuyuu said. 

“Even our father has been blinded by her”, Hakuei sighed. 

“Do you have a plan of action?” Hakuryuu asked. 

Hakuyuu nodded. “We have been collecting dirt on her ever since father’s heart attack. The circumstances of it were just too unbelievable. That added to everything you said earlier... it wasn’t difficult to connect the dots.” 

“Is it possible to make her legally accountable for what she’s done?” Hakuryuu didn’t dare be too hopeful. 

“If only we were able to persuade father, it would make this a lot easier”, Hakuren had to admit. 

All four had thoughtful expressions as they tried to think of something that could help them. 

“As long as we four are here, we will not stop trying”, Hakuren vowed. 

“I just wonder how much time we have”, Hakuryuu was concerned. As if on cue, he felt something strange. “Do you smell that?” 

The three eldest siblings stopped to try and smell whatever it was that Hakuryuu was talking about, and suddenly everyone came to a terrifying realization. Hakuren rushed to the door and they all saw smoke filling the hallway. 

“A fire?” shocked Hakuryuu asked. 

“There was no alarm?” Hakuei was confused. 

_No, if someone decided to turn them off. Right before setting up a fire, for example_ , Hakuryuu thought with rage. 

“We need to get out”, Hakuyuu reasoned. They were on the second floor, so jumping out of the window was out of question. However, there was veranda roof nearby that could be used as help for climbing down. Hakuren had already closed the door to the smoke-filled hallway as he said: “Hakuei first.” 

Hakuyuu and Hakuryuu nod at this, and they help Hakuei down on the roof from where she could drop down to the ground relatively safely. Before Hakuryuu could go after her, however, the ceiling in front of the windows started collapsing, and burning pieces of wood crashed down almost on top of him. The brothers quickly realized that they had to find another way out, and the only way to do that was to go into the hallway. “Remember to stay close to the ground”, Hakuyuu reminded, his younger brothers nodding, before Hakuren opened the door again. 

Meanwhile Hakuei saw that no-one else was getting out of that window, and she started running away from the building as quickly as she possibly could. She didn’t have her mobile phone, but she knew that there was a phone in one of the side buildings, intended for the chief guard who was not currently present. Hakuei almost slipped on the grass as she curved to the little building in the chilly weather. As soon as she got the phone into her shaking hand, she called first the emergency number, and then their cousin Kouen. When Kouen heard from her what had happened, that she had called the fire department because their mansion was lit aflame, the little-elaborating man simply stated that he was going to drop by as well right then immediately. Hakuei couldn’t understand why, but Kouen wouldn’t explain, and wouldn’t relent. 

Inside the building, Hakuryuu got separated from his brothers as he made his way to the backdoor in the kitchen, while the other two seemed to have headed for the front door instead. The fire wasn’t started from the kitchen as there were less flames in there, but blocking the way out was a female figure all too familiar to Hakuryuu. She was smiling. 

“I knew it”, Hakuryuu hissed out, ready to kick her out of the way. 

“Hakuyuu and Hakuren made a mistake in organizing this little meeting. Now you have told Hakuei too, and even if she is to survive, I have to be rid of her quickly”, Gyokuen threatened, only fueling Hakuryuu’s anger. 

Hakuryuu tried to hit her, pull at her clothes and move her out of the way, but Gyokuen blocked his attempts easily and smashed him right to the hard tile floor headfirst. Hakuryuu’s head was spinning and bleeding, and he couldn’t see straight anymore. When he tried to get up, Gyokuen only kicked him back down. 

“I said what I said. You must all die here.” 

As Kouen almost drifted to the yard with his car (and sooner than the fire department too), the first figure to kick the door open and run out was not Kouen, but the boy Hakuei had seen with Hakuryuu the previous week. When Kouen had received Hakuei’s call, he had informed of the situation to Koumei, Kouha, and Kougyoku, and Kougyoku in turn had informed Judar immediately. Kouen agreed to pick him up on the way – he would’ve ridden his motorcycle otherwise – and thus the two of them had arrived at the scene as soon as possible. 

Judar was about to run to the burning building, but Kouen grabbed his arm: “Where are you going?” 

“Hakuryuu’s still in there!” Judar stated like it was completely obvious where he was going. Kouen turned to look at Hakuei who nodded in confirmation. After two seconds of contemplating Kouen let go of Judar’s arm and ran closer to the building together with him. 

There was no way they could enter it, there were too many flames and the air was too hot. However, they did see Hakuyuu and a limping Hakuren making their way out of a hole in the wall, coughing and faces stained with soot. Kouen went to help them, but Judar only asked: “Where’s Hakuryuu?” 

“We got separated downstairs”, Hakuren coughed, and Judar looked both panicked and angry at the new information. 

Then, they all heard unusual noises from the side of the building, and Kouen and Judar glanced at each other before hurrying there. At the front gate, the fire department had finally arrived and were informed of the situation by Hakuei. As soon as Kouen and Judar ran around the corner, they saw Gyokuen right in front of them. Judar had never seen her before but based on Hakuryuu’s description he was able to guess immediately. 

Before Gyokuen could even begin to pull whatever excuse or wordplay she had in mind, Kouen rushed up to her and punched her right in the jaw. She was holding her cheek and looking up at Kouen surprised, never having guessed that he had also had his doubts about her. Judar would’ve wanted to join in the beating, but Hakuryuu was still inside and there was too much fire for him to go fetch him himself, so he waved for the firefighters to come there. As the firefighters were carrying Hakuryuu’s badly burned body out and to the ambulance, Kouen and Judar made sure that Gyokuen escaped nowhere before the arrival of the police. They came and took Gyokuen with them, after which Judar insisted on going to the hospital, even if they didn’t let him see Hakuryuu. He seemed to be in critical condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize in advance if i can't post the next chapter on time


	9. Chapter 9

When Judar got out of the police interrogation, the corridor with yellowish walls was nearly empty. The only sound that could be heard was the receptionist tapping at her keyboard. On some chairs, Judar saw familiar faces. Not only because they were so similar to Hakuryuu’s, but also because he had seen them soot-covered very recently. It looks like Hakuryuu’s brothers had been waiting for him as they stood up when he approached. 

“Hey, we are-” one of them began, but Judar cut him off. 

“I know”, he was glaring at them both. 

The brothers looked at each other, and the one who had just spoken wore a puzzled look on his face. 

“What did the police want to know about? Gyokuen?” the other asked, and if Judar had to guess, that one was Hakuyuu. Then the earlier speaker was Hakuren. 

“Obviously”, Judar muttered, turning his face away from them. There was a moment of silence, and Judar clearly didn’t want to have anything to do with the two men. Too bad that was kind of impossible at this point. 

“We would like to thank you for looking after our Hakuryuu when we were being treated in the hospital”, Hakuyuu continued to speak. 

“And I would like to un-thank you for inviting _my_ Hakuryuu to your... barbeque party...” Judar smiled, but it had a dangerous edge to it. He looked like he was about to snap. 

The brothers looked uncomfortable. “So when Hakuei said that there is someone Hakuryuu might want to introduce to us, I’m assuming she was talking about you?” Hakuren understood. 

“I met that woman, yes”, Judar admitted. “But Hakuryuu didn’t want me to join, as he wished to clear things up with you guys first.” 

Hakuyuu and Hakuren felt guilty about having brought Hakuryuu to the mansion that day, but at the same time they knew that there really was no way they could have known what was to happen. Maybe they could have been more cautious, but there is only so far one can think ahead. 

“That’s what he said, you know? That he didn’t want to fight with you”, Judar continued bitterly. 

“Hakuryuu has been way more forgiving with us than we deserve”, Hakuyuu admitted. 

“You’re damn right about that”, but Judar wasn’t any less angry. Another short moment of silence followed. 

“So, are you and Hakuryuu like...” Hakuren made vague hand movements, “together together?” 

Judar made no visible reactions: “Yes.” 

"… see, this is the first time in our family that some is like, you know”, Hakuren tried to explain the awkwardness of the situation. “And Hakuryuu just never really expressed anything like that so, we’ve got to get used to the idea...” 

Said awkwardness bled away as Judar sighed resignedly and simply said: “Right. Whatever. It doesn’t really matter... If he just wakes up...” Only now did the brothers notice how hopelessly tired the boy looked. Normally they wouldn’t spare a second glance at someone who looked like him, dressed like him, behaved like him... but here was someone important to their dear brother, having stayed up God knows how many hours worrying over him. 

“You should go home and get some sleep”, Hakuyuu suggested. 

“No, I’m going back to the hospital”, Judar stated and turned to the doors. 

“Will you let us come with you?” 

“... why the hell not. It’s not like I can stop you. Hakuryuu didn’t want to fight with you and wouldn’t want us to fight with each other either.” 

And neither brother could disagree with that. 

Hakuryuu gained consciousness in waves. First there was the understanding of “I am about to wake up”, then the smells, the noises, and finally, a little bit of light visible in his eyes. Eye. Huh. 

Hakuryuu opened his eye slowly, cringing at the lights and colours. He felt something covering his other eye, and a lot of his body as well. He tried to move and grunted involuntarily, which seemed to stir someone who was sitting at the right side of his bed. 

“Hakuryuu?” came the hopeful question, and Hakuryuu tilted his head a bit to see his long-braided boyfriend right next to him. 

“What happened?” Hakuryuu asked slowly and quietly. His throat felt like sandpaper. 

“There was the fire and-” Judar began, but Hakuryuu cut off him with an “ah” as he remembered his last memories before waking up. 

They informed that Hakuryuu had woken up, and soon a doctor was there to explain Hakuryuu what injuries he had suffered. The left side of his body was badly burned in the fire, and this almost killed him. They were able to save him, however, but his body would remain heavily scarred. Including the left side of his face, where his eye would most likely be at least partially blind. Hakuryuu accepted this calmly. 

While Hakuryuu had been in the surgery, Judar had sat outside in the hallway the entire time. Sometimes he dozed off, but once, he was awoken by Hakuei who brought him a cup of coffee. She explained to him the exact events that had let to the fire, and Judar felt angry and powerless. 

“I told him so”, he said. Hakuei looked at him questioningly. “I told him that he shouldn’t go, or at least to bring me with. He kept insisting that she wouldn’t be there”, he sounded bitter and glared at Hakuei. Hakuei didn’t fight back. 

“We truly couldn’t have predicted this. None of us”, she was apologetic. Judar let his shoulders slump. 

At least they had some solace in the knowledge that Gyokuen was in police custody and being investigated. She didn’t have as big of a possibility of wriggling out of responsibility now when she didn’t have her husband’s protection anymore, but who knew if the poor man was ever going to recover from a shock like this. 

The police wanted to interview everyone with any knowledge of the situation, including Judar. At the police station, he ran into Hakuyuu and Hakuren. They had also been injured during the fire but not as badly. They came to introduce themselves to Judar, whose identity they had been informed of by Kouen and Hakuei. No matter how pissed off Judar was, for Hakuryuu’s sake he tried to be civil with the Rens, at least until Hakuryuu woke up. If he would wake up, if he would wake up with his mind healthy enough to understand the situation anymore. 

Luckily for all of them, Hakuryuu was a fighter who healed surprisingly well considering the circumstances. For a long time, however, Hakuryuu was bedridden. Judar would come to see him daily, and he brought him school supplies so he could advance with some of his studies during the time he had to stay in the hospital. Alibaba, Aladdin, and Morgiana came to visit him despite their earlier fight. They ran into Judar in the hospital hallways. 

“Hello”, Aladdin said. 

“Hello.” 

Judar didn’t look particularly excited to see them. Aladdin tried to seem positive and polite. Alibaba tried not to stare daggers at Judar. Morgiana tried to seem calm as always. She was the one who was succeeding the most. 

“We are here to see Hakuryuu”, Aladdin explained. 

“Yeah, no shit.” 

Aladdin’s smile became a bit strained. Alibaba couldn’t hold himself anymore: “Regardless of the fight, we are still his friends! And we just want to visit!” He took a step closer to Judar. 

“What fight?” Judar wanted to know now and took a step closer to Alibaba as well, almost like a challenge. Aggression between them could be felt in the air. 

“We just had a bit of a disagreement with Hakuryuu earlier, that’s all”, Aladdin tried to calm the situation down, with little success. It would’ve probably been better if Alibaba hadn’t brought any fight up at all, but they had assumed that Hakuryuu had told Judar. 

“That’s not enough of a reason to hide him from us!” Alibaba added. 

“Hide him? He’s right down the hallway!” 

“Don’t g-!” and before the situation could escalate any more, Morgiana grabbed Alibaba by the collar and started dragging him forward. Everyone’s eyes were on them already. “Thanks for the directions”, she said and walked on, Aladdin after them, leaving Judar behind. 

In front of Hakuryuu’s door, Morgiana said to Alibaba: “Calm down in there, nobody wants more conflict.” 

“I know, it’s just... every time I see _him_ …" Alibaba muttered and glanced back where they came from. Judar wasn’t standing there anymore and had likely left wherever he was going to in the first place. 

“Nobody is expecting us to be friends but... let’s just forget about him for a while”, Aladdin reassured Alibaba, and all three agreed on this before going in. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a while, Hakuryuu sat quietly when the trio walked to his bed. Alibaba and Hakuryuu stared at each other for a while before Hakuryuu lifted his hand, Alibaba took it, and they shook hands. 

“Let’s just forget about it?” Alibaba suggested. 

“Yeah”, Hakuryuu agreed, and they could all smile with relief. 

Hakuryuu laid back on his hospital bed looking a bit sleepy. “Are you getting enough sleep?” Morgiana asked with worry, but Hakuryuu waved it off. “I just still feel a bit tired”, he explained. 

Aladdin asked him to explain what had exactly happened, so Hakuryuu began telling. He explained how Hakuei had invited him for a visit when Gyokuen wasn’t around, and he had gone to talk with his siblings. When he told of the fire breaking, and how he had escaped downstairs only to run into the culprit herself. The three listened to his story with fear and amazement, physically wincing when Hakuryuu describes Gyokuen smashing him to the floor. 

“That could have caused a concussion!” 

“Yeah, but that wasn’t really my biggest concern then...” 

“And you weren’t more cautious?” Alibaba wondered, disbelieving. 

“Look, I’ve heard enough about this from Judar. I don’t need another lecture”, Hakuryuu said, a bit amused, but this only encouraged Alibaba. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but why didn’t you listen to him?” 

“I didn’t really know how much my brothers were onto her, and how much she was onto _them_ ”, Hakuryuu explained, “but yeah, in hindsight it was a bit unthinking.” 

“How did you get out?” Aladdin asked. 

“I don’t know, I lost my consciousness then. Woke up in here”, Hakuryuu gestured around. “Everyone says that I was carried to the ambulance after Kouen and Judar had arrived and Kouen punched Gyokuen to the ground. It’s still difficult for me to believe...” For years, Hakuryuu’s image of Kouen had been that of a ruthless person who only served his own interests. After learning the truth, it took time to adjust to the change. 

“Where is she now? Your mother”, Morgiana asked, and suddenly everyone surrounding Hakuryuu started feeling uneasy. 

“In police custody. I have talked to them a little bit, but they’ll do a proper interrogation later”, Hakuryuu explained, and the others could breathe out a sigh of relief. 

“As long as she can’t walk in to do something to you now”, Morgiana said with a sad smile, and the boys next to her nodded in agreement. 

“I’m a bit worried about the investigation and trial, but we’ll see”, Hakuryuu admitted. His friends wanted to offer him all their solidarity and support, not letting him deal with it alone anymore. Although, now there were other people with Hakuryuu as well. 

Little by little, Hakuryuu was becoming less drowsy and more energetic. When he could finally remove his bandages, his body really was covered in scars. His left eye wasn’t completely blind, but the vision wasn’t good either. It had changed in colour to a lighter shade of blue. 

“I actually think that the scars look really good on you”, Judar told him when he was inspecting his appearance in the mirror. 

“How is that supposed to cheer me up when you’d probably say that even if I was missing my head”, Hakuryuu said, but from his tone one could tell that he was just joking around. 

“Of course I would, but for real though. And the lighter blue looks mesmerizing”, Judar tried to convince him. 

Hakuryuu looked at his reflection. Judar was right, the scars didn’t actually look that bad on him. Besides, they were a proof of what he had survived from. 

Hakuryuu was glad to hear of Gyokuen’s investigation, and he told the police everything he knew and everything that had happened over the years. She was being suspected of child abuse, arson, and five counts of attempted murder which, if she was pronounced guilty, would make sure she wouldn’t be running around free. Not anytime soon, at least. 

Hakuryuu held true to his promise of introducing Judar to his family, even though they had now already met in these unfortunate circumstances. Still, Hakuryuu’s siblings wanted to welcome him into the family properly, even when he was not of such a wealthy background. Only a year ago, that might have been an obstacle for the couple. However, Judar didn’t get to meet Hakuryuu’s father, as he was still recovering. Maybe sometime in the future. 

“I have changed my opinion on you a bit after cousin En defended you”, Hakuren declared, “Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve been like a small angry dog.” 

“I don’t see how that’s a fitting description. A “menacing wolf” would be much cooler”, Judar argued, but Hakuren shook his head. “No, a small angry dog suits better.” 

Judar rolled his eyes. “I stand by my statement that Kouen is the least frustrating of your relatives”, he said to Hakuryuu. 

“I respectfully disagree.” 

“I can’t believe our cousins know you so well and you were in school with Hakuryuu, but I never met you before”, Hakuei said smiling as she sat at the table, inviting others to join. 

“Speaking of cousins, we were thinking of organizing some trip together for spring vacation. You guys are, of course, invited as well”, Hakuyuu informed everyone and gestured at Hakuryuu. Hakuei and Hakuren seemed pretty excited immediately. 

“Rich people vacation...” Judar simply said, and Hakuryuu sighed: “You’ll end up getting spoiled in this place.” 

“Good thing we met before I knew of these perks, because I am absolutely not beyond leeching off of people. At least now you don’t have to worry about that”, Judar joked, not ashamed in the slightest. 

“At least...” 

“We’ve never really done much together as relatives, so it sounds like a fun idea”, Hakuei supported the proposal. 

“We thought of this as a bit of a celebration as well. Or a moment to relax in a Gyokuen free environment”, Hakuyuu explained. 

Gyokuen did get a sentence of twelve years. Way too little for the crimes she had committed, but nobody in the family really dared to complain, as much worse scenarios had definitely been on the table. She had plenty of connections even without Hakutoku, and even the thought of Gyokuen walking completely free had kept all of them awake at nights. The will to be content with what they got was strong. It was not like she was allowed to approach them even after getting out, but knowing her, any such “restrictions” meant nothing. 

After the whole ordeal, Hakuryuu felt freer than ever. Free enough to actually take up on Judar’s suggestion of starting his own restaurant. Although it took years of studying and preparation, eventually he was able to get the place up and running. And whenever he needed any help, he’d easily get it from his fiancé (Hakuryuu had proposed and also cried but this is a secret). 

One evening he was sitting on the balcony of their apartment, watching the sunset and Judar setting up his telescope so he could look at the stars, and he laid back, closed his eyes and breathed the fresh, cool air deeply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the end of the story officially. the tenth chapter that is marked is like an extra. it will probably be pretty short, though that's what i thought of this chapter as well and it turned out longer than any of the others.
> 
> thank you for reading through the whole thing! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry for having taken so long. in my defense, i've had a bit of a writer's block, plus i've been working on another magi au fic... it's going to be way longer than this one. i hope to post it one day when/if i get it done.

“Hello, Hakuryuu!” Alibaba came into the restaurant with Morgiana and their two kids in tow. 

“Ugh”, Judar greeted them with a grimace. 

“Is this how you treat your paying customers in here? Hakuryuu?” Alibaba complained. 

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t come and didn’t pay”, Judar continued glaring at Alibaba. 

“Ungrateful, why are you treating me like this even after I totally saved you earlier with the space thing?” Alibaba demanded to know, exasperated. 

“Saved me? L-” 

“Please, if you’re going to fight, take it outside”, Hakuryuu sighed. 

Not too long ago, due to work related matters, Judar and Alibaba had had to cooperate as work partners in a project. Although they got the job done, their interactions went about as well as one could expect. Still, and even though Judar denied it, they were clearly in more friendly terms these days. Old grudges between them had long since been forgotten. 

And then there was also the fact that Judar and Hakuryuu agreed to babysit the kids sometimes. And the kids loved Judar’s company and were looking up to him as some kind of a hero. 

“Hi Judar!” the two boys, one a redhead and the other blonde, said in unison. 

“Hello”, Judar greeted. “You know that I’m correct about this, right? Remember what I told you?” The boys nodded. 

“Don’t turn my own sons against me!” 

Hakuryuu shook his head at the silliness and went to Morgiana who was sitting at the table. Waiter took their orders from her (she was ordering for everyone out of habit at this point) but Hakuryuu came to chat for a moment at the table. 

“How have you been?” Morgiana asked him, with a worried edge to her voice. Hakuryuu let out a breath and relaxed his body as he sat down in front of her. 

“Fine, all things considered”, he reassured her, and she put a hand on his shoulder as a sign of compassion and support. 

It had been some years into Gyokuen’s prison sentence when all of a sudden, as if a switch had been flipped, she had turned into another person. She claimed not to know why she was imprisoned, that she had no memory of the past twenty plus years. She seemed worried sick, sometimes almost hysteric, about these lost years. And she longed to be with her family. Her beloved husband who she has met when they were only teenagers, with whom her marriage had held fast throughout the years. And their two sons, one courageous and the other cheerful, who had been so precious to her. They were now grown-ups, and the thought that she had missed so much of their youth brought her to tears. 

Hakuei? Hakuryuu? A daughter and a third son? I don’t have any other children. 

Hakuryuu didn’t know what to think. The woman who had taken the place of his mother was gentle, caring and intelligent in a less sinister way. She was everything one could hope in a mother. And she didn’t even know who he was. 

It was difficult to say what was the truth. The Ren siblings weren’t very eager to reach out to her in any way, for obvious reasons. It was very likely that this was their monster of a mother pretending to have a memory loss to avoid responsibility and to slither her way back into their lives to take them under her control once again. An extreme form of gaslighting, in other words. 

But what if she was honest? What if something had happened to her between Hakuren and Hakuei’s births that had damaged her, and now she was back to her original, warm self? If that was the case, everyone’s coldness towards her seemed heartless and sad. One could only hope that she would understand, considering the crimes she had committed, whether she remembered them or not. 

Although Hakuryuu felt a bit shaken and conflicted, Hakuei had taken it so much worse. Very quickly after all of this had started unravelling, she had taken distance not only from her family, but her beloved friends in Kouga, as well as Seishun. Seishun, who had been like a twin at her side for so long. Hakuei moved elsewhere and got a prestigious job at a successful company, Sindria. The ones who had traditionally been competitors to the Rens. This disappointed her brothers and even angered Hakuren. And if their father hadn’t had enough of a heartbreak already, well... 

To Hakuryuu, it seemed a bit ironic. Hakuei had so desperately wanted for him to come back to the family after he had taken some distance, but now she was doing the same and ten times worse. She had been uninterested in talking with her siblings, which is why Hakuryuu was surprised to see her at his door one day. The doorbell had rung in the middle of the day unexpected, and when Hakuryuu went to open the door, he almost jumped as he saw the guest. Hakuei had looked timid, if a bit scared or ashamed. 

“Sister?!” Hakuryuu had asked, and Hakuei had avoided his gaze and expressed how sorry she was for having ditched them all earlier. “It’s fine”, Hakuryuu had reassured, and she relaxed her shoulders. 

“I want to clear things out. Is it okay if we go indoors to discuss it?” she had asked with caution, and Hakuryuu, feeling relieved, tried to sound as reassuring as he could as he replied: “Of course.” 

And for the first time during this conversation, Hakuei turned her gaze to look Hakuryuu right in his eyes. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled a small, mysterious smile. 

“Thank you. My sweet Hakuryuu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End
> 
> thank you for reading, and i hope you enjoyed the story ( ´ ∀ ` ) this was my first attempt at a bit longer story with multiple chapters. it has been a necessary step to take in practicing, and i hope to improve in the future. i'm grateful for the support, kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions, everything


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